Baseball Atlantic 10 Conference

Top-Seeded Rhode Island Powers to Victory over Fordham

BRONX, N.Y.—Top-seeded Rhode Island took advantage of its first-round bye and the extra rest, and cruised past No. 5 Fordham with a 10-1 win in the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship Thursday at Fordham’s Houlihan Park.

Rhody advances to Friday’s semifinals and will play No. 6 Davidson at noon in a game that will air live on ASN. Fordham falls into the consolation bracket and will play No. 3 Saint Joseph’s in an elimination game Thursday night at 8:30 pm.

URI got a six-inning two-hit performance from A-10 Pitcher of the Year Tyler Wilson (12-1). Wilson allowed one unearned run and struck out four batters to get the win. Greg Weissert (5-4) took the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits with eight strikeouts.

Fordham’s lone run came in the top of the first inning when Joey Runco, who reached on a one-out double, scored on a throwing error that allowed Mark Donadio to reach first.

Rhode Island came right back in the bottom of the first however, taking a lead on a two-run single by Ryan Olmo. Chris Hess and Martin Figueroa both scored on the play for Rhody. Olmo and Figueroa combined to be the URI offense again in the third. Another Olmo single drove in Figueroa. Jordan Powell then scored on a wild pitch for give the top seed a 4-1 lead. Olmo added one more by scoring on a Chase Livingston hit in the sixth.

Rhody then added a barrage of insurance runs on a pair of eighth-inning home runs, first by Mike Corin, who had a three-run blast to left-center. Three batters later, Figueroa hit a two-run shot to centerfield, giving the Rams a 10-1 lead.  Dom Grillo then closed out the ninth for URI without allowing a baserunner.

Hess, Figureoa and Olmo each had two hits for Rhody. Figueroa scored three times while Olmo had three RBI. Fordham scattered four runs across four different players.